Hundreds of custodians at Harvard University spent two days on strike after the school offered a 2.2% annual wage increase that would fail to keep pace with inflation and the rising cost of living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard subsequently offered a 2.7% wage increase in response to union demands for a 5.1% annual hike, and the two entities entered into ongoing federal mediation on December 15.

• Employer: Harvard University

• Union: Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ

• Strike length: 2 days

• Number of workers: 800

Nurses and health care professionals (including pharmacists and dietitians) at three hospitals in San Diego County spent three days on strike fighting for changes to Sharp HealthCare’s sick leave policy, which previously required ten weeks of full-time work to earn a single sick day, incentivizing nurses to show up to their shifts unwell. Their new contract includes 70 annual hours of sick leave — the equivalent of two weeks of shifts — frontloaded each January, with unused time allowed to accrue for subsequent years.